U-Brew in Corny Keg

[chuckster_ca]

I've just asked the local U-Brew shop to mix me up some IPA. Once the batch is ready, it'll get poured into a corny keg and installed in my kegerator. My question is: at what pressure will I set the Co2?

I did ask the guy at the shop and he said the beer will be go into the keg carbonated at his co2 is set to 22 psi...

Any thoughts?

[edramshaw]

What is your altitude? You will need to bumb up the pressure if you are more than 1000' above sea level. To carbonate an IPA you would determine where you want you co2 level to be. Depending on where you want the carbonation to be (high or low) you would go between 2.3 and 2.47 volumes of co2. To achieve this at 38 degrees you would set the pressure between 10-11 psi. If you were impatient you could really force it by dropping the temp on the beer to 38 and then putting 30 or so pounds on it an shaking it until you hear the hissing from the CO2 tank stop. Then you would bleed the pressure off the top of the beer, reset the pressure to 12-13 psi and serve. This will give you beer in about 15 minutes whereas the earlier suggestion will take a few days. If you want to reference the chart you can see it here: BT - Troubleshooter: Hop Utilization, Keg Carbonation, and Diacetyl Rests in Lager Fermentations [table]

Good luck!

[chuckster_ca]

Altitude at brew shop = 1,700'
Altitude at my place = 1,000'

If I take the "quick" route by applying 30 psi, what do you mean by bleeding? Does it mean simply releasing all of the co2 and then applying 12-13 psi?

[edramshaw]

Yes, just turn off the gas and pull the pressure release valve. I think the theory behind doing it this way is that it is carbonated quickly, not precisely just quick. Over the next few days it will even out to the pressures you have set. You increase your pressure 1 lb for every 2000' above sea level so if you are at home you shold be fine, at the store I would bump everything up a pound.

[chuckster_ca]

Great, thanks for the info Ed.

I can always simply set the pressure to 12-13 psi and wait 48 hours or so correct?

[edramshaw]

If you shook it like hell every once in a while it should be ready in 48 hours.

[chuckster_ca]

well, I set the pressure to 30 psi and applied to the keg; shook it until I couldn't hear the gas anymore; released the pressure from the keg and applied 12 psi.

I let it sit for 8 hours or so before pouring a pint and I got nothin' but foam.

The beer temp is: 34 degrees, my lines are clean, I'm using a top of the line regulator and a perlick faucet with a dayton blower. just under 5' of 3/16 ID beer line. (had to cut a couple of inches in order to accommodate for a ball lock to sanky conversion kit)

I noticed this on my last commercial keg as well but not off the start. It worked well up until the beer was at the 1/2 way mark; after that, it was tough to pour a decent pint.

Any thoughts?